The Lending Library

by Aliza Fogelson

Except for my overwhelmingly passionate desire to read books and reread them, hold them, surround myself with them, and yes . . . sometimes even smell them.

I guess I just look at what’s really there instead of what I want to see or what the subject wants me to see.”

The library was like this too—you could get exactly what you were looking for or surprise yourself.

did she have any idea of the burning urgency of reading for a book-loving child, how two weeks was a complete eternity without a new book to dive into?

“If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”

Life’s too short, I thought. You have to tell people you love them when you love them. You have to trust

that they love you back just as much even when they make mistakes.

Sometimes terrible things happen. Sometimes it’s your fault, and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s no one’s fault.

I could believe that everything would turn out okay even if I wasn’t always perfect.